New Fubon, Chubb policies cover side effects from COVID-19 vaccinations
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday gave Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險) and Chubb Corp Taiwan (美商安達產險台灣) its approval to sell from today insurance policies that provide coverage to people experiencing serious side effects from COVID-19 vaccines.
Chubb’s product would pay compensation if a policyholder experiences side effects that require hospitalization or a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU), or if they die within 90 days of taking a COVID-19 vaccination, the commission said.
Fubon Insurance’s product has a shorter protection period, providing coverage for policyholders requiring treatment due to side effects within 14 days of being given a COVID-19 shot, the commission said.
Crash insurance may be NT$650m
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
Total compensation from local insurance companies for people who died or were hurt in the Taroko Express No. 408 train crash in Hualien County on Friday is estimated to reach NT$650 million (US$22.82 million), the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.
The 2018 derailment of Puyuma Express No. 6432 near the Sinma (新馬) Railway Station in Yilan County resulted in NT$1.7 billion in compensation, while NT$4.64 billion was paid after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Tainan in 2016, commission data showed.
Friday’s incident was the nation’s worst train crash in decades, killing 50 people and injuring 211, the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Hontai’s capital adequacy rebounds: FSC
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
Hontai Life Insurance Co’s (宏泰人壽) capital adequacy has rebounded to meet the Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) minimum requirements after it received a capital injection of NT$1.95 billion (US$68.34 million), the commission said on Thursday.
The insurer’s equity-to-asset ratio rose to 3.11 percent at the end of February, slightly above the commission’s 3 percent requirement and up from 2.86 percent at the end of December last year, the FSC told a news conference in New Taipei City.
Hontai Life’s risk-based capital (RBC) ratio, which the regulator uses to measure a life insurer’s financial strength, recovered to 207.87 percent at the end of February, above the 200 percent requirement, the commission added.
Taiwan Business Quick Take
TAIEX up 0.37 percent
The TAIEX yesterday closed higher, but came off an earlier high as investors locked in profits ahead of stiff technical resistance at about 16,000 points. Large-cap semiconductor stocks saw more obvious profit-taking during the session, while buying continued to rotate to the old economy and financial sectors to give the broader market a boost, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 58.58 points, or 0.37 percent, at 15,911.67, on turnover of NT$260.011 billion (US$9.18 billion). Despite the gains in the TAIEX, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$3.82 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC posts February record
FSC outlines results of virus insurance products
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
Fourteen property insurance companies have launched 32 COVID-19 insurance products since April last year, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Thursday.
The firms have sold 148,745 policies, generating combined first-year premiums (FYP) of NT$71.52 million (US$2.52 million) as of Thursday, it said.
The commission has encouraged insurers to offer COVID-19 products to provide financial support to people facing economic losses due to disease prevention measures, Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Wang Li-hui (王麗惠) told a news conference in Taipei.
Although there is no official guidance or definition of a COVID-19 insurance policy, most products cover medical and hospitalization expenses incurred due to treatment for COVID-19, data from insurance companies showed.